Riu Palace Pacifico Adults Only - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

7336 reviews

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  Had a great time at the RIU! This was actually our 2nd RIU.. the first was in Costa Rica. I really can't say more about this great hotel other that what has already been said about the employees and the resort itself. Here is my experience and some suggestions for first timers: We just took an UBER there (more about UBER later) from the airport. It's a few minutes walk but worth it. Your US version of UBER works just fine and displays the cost/fare in pesos. It was only $265 pesos (under $15) door to door. The UBER driver picked us up right in front of Tacon de Marlin on the other side of the walkway bridge. I do suggest getting Pesos as spending money...all I used was Pesos there. I got mine from Chase next day and probably the best exchange rate. It's an easy conversion... just remember that every $20 Pesos is $1 USD approximately.. we are talking pennies in difference depending on the rate for the day. I went SCUBA diving the next day - Vallarta Adventures is who went through. I booked the trip in advance and saved 40%. Took an UBER there too.. $150 Pesos. Was supposed to go to Marietas Islands to dive - but hurricane Flossie that went through there recently caused the government or whomever to shut it down for a few days... so we had to go to another site. It was pretty good.. saw a few turtles and some cool eels. Vis was ok and the water was really warm.. no wetsuit needed. My divemaster was Ali Ozan and he was really cool and knowledgeable. There is a little shop at the beach that sells some souvenir stuff.. but I recommend going up the road to Bucerias.. the stuff at the markets there is about 1/3 the cost on the beach. We took an UBER there for $172 Pesos - just tell the driver to take you to the Bucerias sign (Alfredo V. Bonfil St.) all the market shops are right there. There are many shop owners who want you to come and look inside there store.. many of them sell the same stuff. Most if not all the shop owners have Tequila and love to have a "taste" with people who visit their store.. and they give it to you if you buy or not =) We ended up walking back from Bucerias .. and it's about 2 miles... and I'm gonna admit, it took a little while and its farther than you think. You can UBER/Taxi back or we saw some people who rented electric bikes. We stopped at a few Pharmacies.. but many of them have the same prices, especially the larger chain stores. They all take Visa if you don't want to carry cash. OK - about the UBER... the local police HATE the UBER drivers. I don't know the history or why the bad blood.. but the police will pull them over and extort money from them and shake them down. The drivers are a bit timid because of this understandably. There are some bad stories of certain drivers losing their cars... etc because they could not pay off the police. One of our drivers would not pull all the way up to the front door of the hotel - so we met them in the street next to the guard station - no big deal. All in all it was a great time.. however... I did get swimmers itch from the ocean and also swimmers ear... pretty bad.. and it's probably just me. Over a week and a half after we left and I still have signs of the rash. So, if you are prone to swimmers itch...which now I found out I am.. bring some Hydrocortisone cream or some Benadryl just in case. I got some swimmers ear medicine from the Pharmacy - its called Phendex - to help while I was there.. it was at an amazing price of $42 pesos! DO NOT MISS.... The Neon Party or the White Party.. they are so much fun...you are there to have fun and let loose - these are the perfect times to do it! The nightly entertainment at the theatre is amazing too.. went every night.. those people work so hard to put on a great show.. and it tells! Thanks for reading and hope you have an amazing experience!

  Jul 17, 2025
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  Nice resort, probably for the older turned down crowd.

  I enjoy liked this resort, just didnt love it. Check in was a breeze with Andies, who set the tone with her friendliness. We were not escorted to our room which was disappointing. Rooms are unique with the steps that lead down into the balcony area. Very clean, very quiet most times and the staff had issues with guest playing music. There is no club here, the pool bar had music playing sometimes. The beach was nice, no seaweed. No the clearest but nice. The buffet was above average. The steakhouse was outstanding, but the portion sizes were on the smaller size. The sports bar, open 24hrs, had really good food. The drinks are top shelf. Just have to find the right bartender to make your drink. Now the entertainment team was underwhelming and the one RIU party was more family friendly.

  Jul 15, 2025
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  Riu Palace Pacifico, Nuevo Vallarta/Nayarit

  Riu Palace Pacifico is an all-inclusive adult only resort that was newly refurbished. The ambiance is elegant and sophisticated with a wide variety of food options from the typical buffet to specific cuisine (Asian, Italian, fusion gourmet, etc). The resort is located approx 20-40 minutes north of the airport, depending on traffic. There are a lot of construction (and speed bumps), so expect an amount of time getting to the resort. Airport: getting through customs was a breeze. Make sure to fill out your travel/immigration documents before getting to the customs area. If not filled out while in flight, make sure to grab one when you deboard the airplane. Once you get out of customs, be prepared to go through the timeshare "guantlet." Ignore them and just walk through. All transportation arrangements will be outside the airport. Make sure to find your transport representative there. There are 2 RIU hotels in the area (Jalisco versus Palace Pacifico), so make sure you identify the correct one. RIU hotel check-in: Once you arrive at the hotel, bell hop will insist on grabbing your bags for you while you proceed to the check-in area. We were greeted with a glass of champagne. If you have the elite club package (which we were), you will be brought into a separate check-in area. You will be given wrist bands to signify your package level (elite versus non-elite). Hotel rooms: rooms were very clean and modern. Elite club rooms have "full ocean view" while non elite packages have "partial ocean view," which was just as good as full ocean view (I will elaborate further details later). All inclusive includes all food, beverages, and activities (which were lacking). Food: quality varied. The buffet was plentiful but was your basic and typical buffet. The "specialty" dining like Kyoto, Guacamole, La Toscana, etc, had its unique pros/cons. The worst specialty restaurant we had was the steakhouse. The steaks were overcooked and very bland. Unless otherwise specified when you are seated, you can order as many meal items as you want. Serving portions are quite small/petite, so if you are hungry, make sure to order a couple of main dishes (or appetizers). Beverages: definitely catered for the masses. A lot of their drinks like the pina colada and margaritas are pre-mixed (or boxed), which blows my mind. I was expecting real authentically mixed beverages but was quite disappointed. Activities: There are daily "nursing home-like" activities (lol). The venue lacked guest engagement centric activities (like trivia, karaoke, boardgames, etc). If your thing is to listen to bands that played the same music every other day, this is the venue for you. Make sure to plan some third-party excursions to fill your time and to raise your heart rate, unless you want to vegetate around the pool or on the beach for 16 hours a day. Service: The staff was plentiful, and they were always cleaning all common areas. Excursions: There are third-party excursion representatives, and they're typically available in the mornings. Keep in mind that they are NOT part of the all-inclusive package. We did excursions with Canopy Aventures and Vallarta Adventures during our trip, but be worrisome with scammers online. See separate excursion reviews. RIU app: Once you have your reservation, you can manage and view it on the app. When you check in, the staff will push you to download and view the app. You will be able to view daily nursing-home like activity schedules (lol) and restaurants (make reservations for elite). Unfortunately, the app is very slow and cumbersome. Beach: During the time of this review (July 2025), the beach was calm with murky water. The beach is within Banderas Bay, and the water is very silty. The water clears up 1-2 miles offshore. There are a lot of vendors on the beach, so be prepared. Elite club: i can see this as a benefit if/when the resort is at full capacity. Other than the ocean view rooms, you are welcomed with free champagne in your room. You get free room snacks and an endless supply of hard liquor and beer/sodas/water in your room. Elite club rooms have full oceanview rooms. But if you can turn your head 90degrees left or right, you can also have a full oceanview room from a non-elite club partial oceanview room. There is a separate lounge you can order drinks and snacks. There are beach cabanas only available to elite club members, even though there are plenty of lounge recliners available outside of elite cabanas. There is a separate elite club only restaurant, which we did not utilize. Elite members are able to make restaurant reservations up to 1 night ahead via RIU app. Otherwise, it is first come, first serve. I have heard of patrons being turned down due to limited availability. Like I said, if the hotel is at full capacity or during peak season, elite club package would be beneficial. Overall, this was my first all-inclusive resort vacation. I am more of an adventurous individual and expected more activities. I was happy with the cleanliness of the hotel and the customer service provided.

  Jul 14, 2025
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  Great Stay at Riu Palace Pacifico

  Spent 9 nights (late June, early July, 2025) at the Riu Palace Pacifico. We had a large group (17 people). It is a great location, only 20-30 minutes from the airport, depending on time of day (traffic). The property is beautiful, and all the employees were extremely nice and accommodating. The food was good - what I would expect at an all-inclusive resort. The buffet always had a great selection and everyone could find something. The breakfast was best. The steakhouse was very good, the Asian was good. Some in our party ate at the Italian and said it was not very good, and the Mexican was just OK. We didn't try the others. The pools were nice - the swim up bar got very crowded and the water was very warm, but the quiet pool and activity pool were nice to hang out in. It was always easy to find chairs. The snack bar/taco stand by the pool was great - excellent tacos, great hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, etc. The beach was very nice - it was always easy to find lounges, even with our large group. It was also easy to find some in the shade and some with sun. The water was nice - saw a few eels, stingrays, and very small amount of jellyfish. One day they were keeping us out due to someone spotting a crocodile - wish I would have seen it! This Riu had the nicest sports bar I have seen at an all-inclusive resort. It was like a real sports bar - lots of comfortable seating, good TVs, and you actually order food that is served fresh rather than having things in chafing dishes like most others. We had great view from our partial sea view room. The air conditioners worked great! Overall, I recommend this resort and I will likely return.

  Jul 14, 2025
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  Pretty Resort - Questionable Guests

  We recently stayed at the Riu Palace Pacifico in Puerto Vallarta. This adults-only all-inclusive is pretty with modern, clean rooms, sparkling pools, and friendly staff who hustle to keep guests happy. The restaurants didn’t disappoint (special shout-out to the steakhouse, taco bar, and coffee bar), and having elite status made snagging reservations a breeze. Now, about those "adults". Picture a Spring Break cruise, but stationary. The day we arrived, the swim-up bar pool was closed because someone mistook it for a toilet. We thought, “okay, weird fluke”, until it kept happening. Watching grown-ups down shots like frat pledges, then decorate the pool deck and/or the pool itself was not on our vacation bingo card. This happened every day. Sure, everyone’s entitled to a good time. But if your idea of fun is sharing paradise with some sloppy partiers, just waiting for the staff to swoop in with buckets and mops, congratulations—this is your paradise. If not, well… enjoy the big pool, or maybe the lobby. It stays remarkably puke-free. Unfortunately, due to the unsavory guests, I will not be returning to this resort.

  Jul 13, 2025